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Monday, November 24, 2014

Netanyahu Warns of 'Grave Mistake' if France Recognizes Palestine

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned
Sunday that France's parliament would be making a "grave mistake" if it
recognizes a Palestinian state in a vote on December 2.

"Do they have nothing better to do at a time of
beheadings across the Middle East, including that of a French citizen?"
he told reporters in Jerusalem, referring to hiker Herve Gourdel who was
executed by his jihadist captors in Algeria in September.

"Recognition of a Palestinian state by France would be a grave mistake," Netanyahu said.

"The State of Israel is the homeland of the Jewish
people, the only state that we have, and the Palestinians demanding a
state do not want to recognize the right to have a state for the Jewish
people," Netanyahu told members of Israel's growing Jewish community
from France.

His comments came just hours after his cabinet voted
14-6 in favor of a controversial proposal to anchor in law Israel's
status as "the national homeland of the Jewish people."

France's plans for a non-binding but highly symbolic
vote follows similar resolutions passed by the British and Spanish
parliaments, and an official decision to recognize Palestine by the
Swedish government.

Sweden's move infuriated Israel which responded by recalling its ambassador to Stockholm.

A draft of the proposal in France "invites the French
government to use the recognition of the state of Palestine as an
instrument to gain a definitive resolution of the conflict."

European leaders have shown signs of mounting impatience with Israel over its continued settlement-building on Palestinian land.

Criticism has become more focused in the wake of this
summer's 50-day offensive by the Israeli army in Gaza that killed about
2,200 Palestinians and dozens of Israelis.

The French parliamentary vote follows a similar
resolution to "recognize the state of Palestine alongside the state of
Israel as a contribution to securing a negotiated two-state solution"
approved by British lawmakers on October 13.

Israel warned that the British resolution, which passed
with a huge majority but is also non-binding, risked undermining peace
prospects.

Sweden went further by announcing on October 30 that it
officially recognized the Palestinian state, a move heavily criticized
by Israel and the United States.

The Palestinian Authority estimates that 135 countries
have now recognized Palestine as a state, although the number is
disputed and several recognitions by what are now European Union member
states date back to the Soviet era.

France was among 14 EU nations which voted in favor of
granting Palestinian territories observer status at the United Nations
in November 2012.